1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to computer system and network monitoring and reporting software and systems, and more particularly, to a method and system for controlling communication loads and timing in a network of client and service provider devices that utilizes a cascaded pipeline with a plurality of relays to provide a reliable store and forward mechanism with priority messaging and includes one or more throttle mechanisms for controlling network usage at one or more relays in the pipeline.
2. Relevant Background
The need for effective and cost efficient monitoring and control of servers and their clients and computer network components, i.e., systems management, continues to grow at a rapid pace in all areas of commerce. There are many reasons system management solutions are adopted by companies including reducing customer and service downtime to improve customer service and staff and customer productivity, reducing computer and network costs, and reducing operating expenditures (including reducing support and maintenance staff needs). A recent computer industry study found that the average cost per hour of system downtime for companies was $90,000 with each company experiencing 9 or more hours of mission-critical system downtime per year. For these and other reasons, the market for system monitoring and management tools has increased dramatically and with this increased demand has come pressure for more effective and user-friendly tools and features.
There are a number of problems and limitations associated with existing system monitoring and management tools. Generally, these tools require that software and agents be resident on the monitored systems and network devices to collect configuration and operating data and to control communications among the monitored devices, control and monitoring consoles, and a central, remote service provider. Data collected on the monitored systems is displayed on the monitoring console or client node with tools providing alerts via visual displays, emails, and page messages upon the detection of an operating problem. While providing useful information to a client operator (e.g., self-monitoring by client personnel), these tools often require a relatively large amount of system memory and operating time (e.g., in excess of 2 percent of device processing time).
Additionally, the volume of data and messages sent between monitored systems and the service provider server can include very large files, such as configuration and asset files, which results in congestion of data communication networks. This can be a significant problem at connections between the customer environment and public networks, such as the Internet, that may have volume limits or that may increase usage charges based on such spikes in data transmission volumes. Further, filling the customer communication networks with large data loads can result in communications that are important or even essential to the customer's business being slowed, temporarily delayed, or even lost. For most businesses, loss or slowing of data transmissions is unacceptable, especially during their core hours. For example, e-commerce businesses rely on both timely communications and reliable communications, e.g., secure communications with no or little loss of data. In addition to data volume problems, the timing of the transmissions of the gathered monitoring and asset data to the service provider can vary significantly over time in many monitoring systems leading to unpredictable congestion within the network. Again, delays and losses of communications within the network result from the large increases in network usage that occurs at unexpected and undesirable times for the affected business.
Hence, there remains a need for an improved system and method for monitoring computer systems that addresses the need for reliable and secure data and message transmissions. Such a system and method preferably would reliably and timely transfer commands, alarms or alerts, monitoring data, and asset and configuration data to facilitate timely monitoring of computer and network operations. Additionally, such a method and system would preferably effectively manage communication network usage within the customer's environment and at the interface between the customer's environment and public networks to minimize disruptions to the customer's ability to utilize its internal communication network and external or public communication connections.